Category archives: fußball

The Prater Garten has quickly become one of our favorite spots to relax after a work day and catch up with friends over a beer. Prater is Berlin’s oldest biergarten, serving beer on Kastanienallee in Prenzlauer Berg since 1837. I think the food is far better than most biergartens, with lots of options beyond the usual bratwurst fare- and corn on the cob is always a winner in my book. Surely with the lovely summer weather we have had here in Berlin lately, we will be spending many more lazy evenings at Prater.

nerds
Elderflower Prosecco sorbet? It was FREEZING outside, but it was delicious.

After a week of gorgeous spring weather it seems that winter has returned :( Saturday had the craziest weather, one moment it was cold, but sunny and 5 minutes later it was HAILING. Mid hail storm we ran back to our apartment to grab an umbrella and in the few moments we were inside, the wind and hail stopped and the sunshine returned. It was completely bizarre. We went to our first soccer match here in Berlin at Olympia Stadium, where Berlin lost badly and we froze our bums off, but had a great time nevertheless. (some photos on my instagram here because apparently SLR cameras could be used as a weapon? they are sometimes allowed, sometimes not- I didn’t even try this time) Sunday was spent making a tour of Berlin Flohmärkte (we hit up FIVE flea markets) looking for some amazing new things for our apartment, and I learned two things: 1) Andreas and I have very different taste in furniture and 2) we need to get out of the house way before 12 to beat the crowds and snag the good pieces. Even though we came home empty handed it was fun to be explore and visit some new parts of the city.

How was your weekend? I am already looking forward to the upcoming long Easter weekend visiting family and friends in the South of Germany and hoping spring will return in time for our trip, the Black Forest is especially beautiful in the spring.

It feels like ages since I posted a weekend post, which means I have been working too much on the weekends :( But hopefully that will change soon, my new goal for the year is to explore the lovely region we live in with lots of little getaways (good for the wedding budget too), so stay tuned for more Black Forest and Alsace adventures :)

To celebrate Andreas’s birthday I got us tickets to see his favorite soccer team play in Karlsruhe, a city about 45 minutes away, and booked us a hotel for the night so we could make a mini-vacation out of it. Sadly I caught a nasty flu last week and come Friday I was feeling really terrible, but given the tickets were non-refundable, I popped some Day-Quil and dragged myself out of bed to watch some fußball. It was a pretty exciting game and they won (which was a surprise) and I realized some fresh air made me feel a bit better. The next day we woke up to Spring, and cruised around soaking up the sunlight and doing a little bit of shopping, a lovely day.

The rest of the weekend included:celebrating a girlfriend’s birthday at a pub in her tiny little village with the most interesting mix of people, just watching everyone’s interactions and people watching made the night. a giant baking FAIL :( I tried a new cheesecake recipe, and learned two valuable lessons, 1) do NOT try a new recipe when you are entertaining, always test baked goods first on Andreas & 2) always trust my baking instincts, and do not listen when the recipe says to take something out of the oven when it still looks undercooked, it is undercooked. oh well, live and learn.

Normally I would never be caught dead wearing a jersey in support of a sporting event or team… probably because I am not such a big fan of sports and also because they are not exactly what I would call flattering. Andreas and I have matching jerseys. Yes, we are dorks. Soccer is the one sport I really enjoy watching and can get into, probably because I played for most of my youth and actually understand the rules ;) unlike pretty much every other sport.

Something about the world cup fever is totally infectious, and oh so fun. Watching the entire country come together with such pride and excitement in support of their team is something a bit foreign to me, as Americans have such a vast array of interests, we rarely find one thing to come together and support. Not a bad thing, but I must say its SO fun to paint your face and yell at the screen surrounded by hundreds of people doing the exact same thing.

I thought posting some nice looking World Cup boys might help heal the pain of Germany’s loss last night. :( The quiet streets were a stark contrast to the screams and horns which have echoed through town after the wins, and sadly we had some very excited American house guests to witness the loss. You could almost feel the whole country’s heart break when Spain scored. I blame the octopus!

at the bicycle flea market where we bought andreas a new (old) bicycle, so I now have a biking buddy! I know am definitely more excited than he is :)

I look crazed here, but i love the mans stink eye behind me.

he’s mine. and i couldn’t be more thankful. I feel like the luckiest girl alive.

The weekend was everything I needed and more after what seemed like the never ending work week. Saturday was spent at farmer’s market, a flea market on a lake, a bicycle flea market and an afternoon in Strasbourg with a picnic riverside enjoying the first real warm weekend we have had this year.

Today was amazing- I finally finished the website I have been working on for the last few months for a client which lifted a huge weight off me, thank goodness. Then I was the lone female on a boys day out in Freiburg lunching in a biergarten and going to a soccer game. I enjoy watching soccer and love the excitement of the fans- especially when they don’t agree with the ref and scream and boo and make your ears bleed. Seeing fans so angry, I cant help but laugh watching them scream at the field. It was definitely a spirited crowd, and I think we were pretty much the only ones who were not decked out in freiburg team gear (not really my style), they won and I caught a bit of the team spirit :)

Now I am a very tired little ashley, off to dreamland with a full heart and a big smile.

Chasing Heartbeats is the visual journal from photographer Ashley Ludaescher, a California girl living in Berlin, Germany. This blog features snippets from life in Berlin, travels around Europe, and Heartbeats- inspirations and somewhat magical moments in everyday life.